Malta women’s water polo national team bag first win at World Cup against Slovakia

The Malta women’s water polo national team registered their first win in the World Cup Division II when they overcame Slovakia 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out after the match had ended in a 10-10 draw after normal time.

It was a deserved victory for Aurelien Cousin’s girls, who, for the second match in a row, showed a lot of heart and resilience to overcome Slovakia and somewhat atone for their heartbreaking 11-10 defeat to Brazil on Tuesday.

Elena Borg was Malta’s leading scorer with four goals while Martha Perici Ferrante grabbed a hat-trick.

The Maltese girls held their own in the opening session, which saw both teams trade nine goals, with the Slovakians coming out on top 5-4.

Kendra Navarro and Perici Ferrante grabbed a brace each in the opening session for the hosts.

The second session maintained the same script early on with Elena Borg netting for Malta.

But as the minutes passed, the Slovaks seemed to take a decisive lead when racing to an 8-5 lead.  

Perici Ferrante bridged the gap to just two goals before ends were changed.

Malta came to the fore in the third session as they started to grow stronger and stronger.

Elena Borg took centre stage for Malta as the prolific player grabbed a quick hat-trick that turned the match on its head as Malta led 9-8 with one session to go.

Early in the fourth, Eyla Schembri struck again to put the hosts 10-8 ahead but the Slovakians rallied as they managed to score twice without reply through Dina Telypko to force a penalty shoot-out.

But the Maltese girls were in no mood to throw in the towel and in the shoot-out Malta raced to a two-goal lead as after Jensine Bugelli had her effort save, Borg and Marlerose Tully scored while at the other end the Slovakians missed all their opening three efforts.  

Ella Miceli had her effort saved by the Slovakian goalkeeper but Bugelli, in the Malta goal produced a fine save to deny Sandra Holicova and hand match point to Malta.

Perici Ferrante stepped up to convert the winning penalty to the delight of the Maltese fans.

The Maltese girls have another difficult test on Thursday when they face Croatia at 11.30am.